They walked through the green streets of Rubicum, a group of six that took up most of the pathway with Ishumi leading the charge. Leafs of crimson and flowers of red fell like drizzling rain as the trees shed their load in preparation for the coming winter season. The aboveground buildings were built around meandering streams, bridges bridging the gaps between one place and another.

She swung her hand out in a nonchalant gesture as they passed by the entrance to a park. “The Lily Garden.” She continued on.

Behind her, Trini leaned into Seks' arm. He told her, “I'm starting to think having Ishumi give a tour wasn't the best of your ideas.”

“I can hear you,” Ishumi replied, stopping in her tracks. She turned to those following her. “What do you wish me to do differently?”

Trini voiced timidly, “Well, maybe you could explain some of these places we seem to be catapulting by? I mean, simply saying a name and walking on is not as fun as it could be.”

Ishumi let out a dejected sigh. Speaking aloud was not something she particularly enjoyed. “Very well. The Lily Garden was installed during the year forty-two PW. Master botanist and engineers designed it to seamlessly fill into the streets and it stretches for... what? What is the matter now?”

The others were looking at her with bored expressions. Around them, The Lily Garden stretched into the aboveground streets. Hundreds upon hundreds of the natural flowers weaved into the settings with colours that varied upon the spectrum of light as diverse as the blooms themselves. Their scent was sweet and fresh, filling the brim of their minds with spring in fall. The streams that cut through the garden danced with a vibrancy of petals that floated down.

Trini began, “It's just... your explanations are a little...”

“Bland.” Joachim signed.

“I have a question!” Quinton raised his hand as if they were back in class.

“Yes, Quinton?”

“I'm not meeting my sister to help her with her groceries, am I?”

Trini grinned back. “No, you are not!”

Wrapped around his arm was Shjacky who had stuck to him as thick as glue since they left their dormitories.

“I'm on a triple date, aren't I?”

Shjacky replied giddily, “Yes! Yes you are!”

Beside Ishumi, Joachim signed. “Tell them I'm not a part of this date!”

She simply shrugged, an action that brought about him a silent groan. “Look,” she returned to speaking with the rest. “I'm not sure what you want me to do. I'm giving the tour, aren't I?”

Quinton suggested, “Maybe not sound like you're reading out of a textbook? Put some feelings into it?”

“Why are you giving the adive? You don't even want to be here,” she snapped back.

The older twin simply shrugged. “When in Brimton...”

Ishumi crossed her arms. Though the weather was cooling it was not yet cold enough for them to require jackets. Yet, she felt freezing. As if covered by a shadow of clouds that never dispersed.

She began, “I used to come here as a child. My brother and I would race down the entire stretch of The Lily Garden. North to sound, crossing the whole city. We'd see who could pick the most variety of flowers in the shortest time possible, at least until we got scolded by my parents for plucking the plants.” She looked to the sky. Thin clouds covered the sea of astral blue, lulling over like waves. “This place was modelled during the Post War Age. It was meant to be a symbol of harmony between mortals and nature, and that peace needed to be maintained just as much as won. It was also one of the lines of defence during the Battle of Heaven and Earth. When Heaven's angels attacked, this was where a bulk of the fighting took place.”

“Wow...” Trini voiced. “That sounded really grim.”

Ishumi gestured to Quinton. “He asked me to 'Put some feelings into it'.”

“Your feelings are really dark.”

She shrugged. “You get what you paid for.”

Silence fell between the six of them, with Shjacky mostly quiet due to being in bliss, not having heard most of what Ishumi said. Joachim gestured frantically, signalling to cut off the awkwardness by changing topic. It did not take someone who knew sign language to understand the wish for it.

Ishumi clapped her hands together. “How about we simply go to the market? Freshest forest fruits and most beautiful wood crafts in the world.”

“Great idea,” Quinton replied immediately. “Let us go.” He walked past Ishumi, dragging Shjacky along by his arm as if she was a puppy.

Trini crossed stares with Ishumi, the latter nodding back with a slight smile reassuringly. Trini nodded in acceptance before turning to Seks. “Let's go, love. We don't wish the shops to close on us.”

Seks groaned. “Do I have to carry your things for you again?”

“Of course you do,” she replied matter-of-factly. “It's part of your job.”

As the rest of the group walked away, Ishumi stood back to gather her thoughts. She did not like getting emotional. It always felt like her judgement was being clouded. She was afraid her emotions would lead her to making the wrong decisions when it mattered, even if the choice came up in mundane conversation. She liked to keep her head clear, not hiding from reality. At least, that was what she liked to think about herself.

When she thought she was ready, she took a step forward only to be held back at her wrist by Joachim's grip.

“Are you alright?” he asked, a solemn look on his face.

“I'm fine.”

“You don't look fine. You look like you're neither here nor anywhere.”

She kept silent, not out of a refusal to reply, but rather due to not knowing what to say.

“Your family,” he signed. “Can I meet them?”

She gave him a playful grin. “I thought we weren't dating?”

“T-that's not what I meant!” he exclaimed, face beet red. “It's just... you don't talk about them much. Even to me it's just vague exchanges. But they always seemed so important to you, and a part of your reason why you didn't want to come back here. I just thought that maybe, if you go see them, you can put your past behind you.”

His hands were a flurry of motions. If the others in class could hear how talkative he actually was, she was sure they would go crazy. Playful mistranslations aside, she knew her class found Joachim to be lovingly hard-headed. It was only with her that he dropped his guard, language barrier no longer being an obstacle between them. But to her, he spoke to her on a different emotional level. She liked the voice in the silence. It reminded her of better times.

Joachim continued, “I know it's not going to fix anything. But maybe at least, now that you're here with friends, you can say to them that you're not alone any longer.”

“We're kids, Joachim. This thing, these happy days,” she gestured to them. “It's not going to last. We're going to grow up one day. Given our epitaphs, that might happen sooner or later. I don't know if you know this, but kids are suppose to have happy days, it's nothing special.”

“But at least it's here, isn't it? At least you got the chance to grasp for it. Don't you owe it to your family, to yourself, to show how far you've come? Even if it is only for a little while.” He gave her a moment to take the offer in. Then, he grinned his stupid grin. “Besides, you've not been yourself since we got here. If you keep this up, by Winter, you won't have any friends left.”

She grimaced and piped back, “I don't want to hear that from you and your ego.”

“See! That's what I'm saying. You're edgy, you're jumpy, and you're moody. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were on your–”

She gave him glare that marked him for death and he quickly cut mid sentence. Sighing, she admitted, “You're right. I am not myself right now. Let's go.”

“Go?”

“Yeah,” she replied. “You wanted to visit my family, right? We'll need to head east to the Forest of the Dead.”